Conditional Simulation of Complex Geological Structures Using Multiple-Point Statistics

In many earth sciences applications, the geological objects or structures to be reproduced are curvilinear, e.g., sand channels in a clastic reservoir. Their modeling requires multiple-point statistics involving jointly three or more points at a time, much beyond the traditional two-point variogram statistics. Actual data from the field being modeled, particularly if it is subsurface, are rarely enough to allow inference of such multiple-point statistics. The approach proposed in this paper consists of borrowing the required multiple-point statistics from training images depicting the expected patterns of geological heterogeneities. Several training images can be used, reflecting different scales of variability and styles of heterogeneities. The multiple-point statistics inferred from these training image(s) are exported to the geostatistical numerical model where they are anchored to the actual data, both hard and soft, in a sequential simulation mode. The algorithm and code developed are tested for the simulation of a fluvial hydrocarbon reservoir with meandering channels. The methodology proposed appears to be simple (multiple-point statistics are scanned directly from training images), general (any type of random geometry can be considered), and fast enough to handle large 3D simulation grids.     

Geochemistry of Adakites from the Philippines: Constraints on Their Origins

Abstract. We have identified in the Philippine Archipelago 230 samples of Late Miocene to Quaternary intermediate and evolved magmatic rocks or glasses, the compositions of which plot within the adakitic field defined by Defant and Drum-mond (1990) using Sr/Y ratios versus Y contents. These rocks belong to four different subductions, along the Manila Trench (Batan, Northern Luzon, Central Luzon), the Negros and Sulu Trenches (Negros and Western Mindano), the Cotobato Trench (Southern Mindanao) and the Philippine Trench (Eastern Mindanao). Lavas from Central Mindanao overlie the deep remnants of the Molucca Sea Plate, and were emplaced in a post-collision setting.
All these samples show a significant depletion in Y and HREE with respect to their "normal" calc-alkaline equivalents, suggesting that garnet was either a residual phase during partial melting or a fractionating mineral during differentiation or assimilation coupled with fractional crystallisation (AFC). However, only 19 samples out of our set (i.e., 8 %) display very high Sr/Y ratios (100–250). Our preferred model for the genesis of these "typical adakites" is ca. 20 % partial melting of subducted altered oceanic metabasalts converted to eclogite. This melting process could have been triggered by water from the underlying serpentinites. Most of the samples, termed "intermediate adakites", display major and trace element chemical features intermediate between those of the former group and those of normal calc-alkaline lavas. We show that magma mixing between slab-derived adakitic magmas and mafic mantle-derived melts accounts for most of the trends linking typical and intermediate adakites, although an additional contribution of mantle is required in some cases.     

Ultraprecise age and formation temperature of the Australasian tektites constrained by 40Ar/39Ar analyses

The Australasian tektites are quench melt glass ejecta particles distributed over the Asian, Australian, and Antarctic regions, the source crater of which is currently elusive. New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age data from four tektites: one each from Thailand, China, Vietnam, and Australia measured using three different instruments from two different laboratories and combined with published ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data yield a weighted mean age of 788.1 ± 2.8 ka (±3.0 ka, including all sources of uncertainties) (P = 0.54). This age is five times more precise compared to previous results thanks, in part, to the multicollection capabilities of the ARGUS VI noble gas mass spectrometer, which allows an improvement of almost fourfold on a single plateau age measurement. Diffusion experiments on tektites combined with synthetic age spectra and Monte Carlo diffusion models suggest that the minimum temperature of formation of the Thai tektite is between 2350 °C and 3950 °C, hence a strict minimum value of 2350 °C.     

Calibration of Littoral Diatoms to Water Chemistry in Standing Fresh Waters (Flanders, Lower Belgium): Inference Models for Historical Sediment Assemblages

Relationships between littoral surface-sediment diatom assemblages and ambient limnological conditions were examined in 186 lentic fresh waters throughout lower Belgium (Flanders). Most of these waters were small, unstratified, alkaline and rich in nutrients. Using weighted-averaging techniques, robust and accurate transfer functions were developed for median pH-values ranging from 3.4 to 9.3 and dissolved inorganic carbon concentrations from <1.6 to 63 mg l⁻¹ (jackknifed r ²≈ 0.87, RMSEP <10% of the observed range), while a less precise model was obtained for sodium (2–571 mg l⁻¹; jackknifed r ² 0.69, RMSEP 9.9% of the range). Restricting the data set to circumneutral and alkaline sites (pH≥6.5) revealed the importance of additional variables, including calcium, silica, chemical oxygen demand and potential gross oxygen production (a proxy for metabolic activity and phytoplankton abundance). Calibration models for these variables were strong enough to be useful (jackknifed r ² 0.57–0.59, RMSEP 13.1–16.4% of the observed range), although estimations should not always be considered entirely independent. Except for the predominant pH gradient, removal of all taxa with a distribution unrelated to the variable of interest improved model performance. In general, such taxa were proportionally represented among taxa classified according to their principal habitat. Application of the present models to diatom assemblages of shallow-water sediments obtained from historical samples and, most importantly, herbarium-macrophyte specimens, will improve hindsight into regional freshwater conditions and add to base-line setting of ecological quality standards in a highly impacted region. Electronic supplementary material Electronic supplementary material is available for this article at and accessible for authorised users.     

EUREC<Superscript>4</Superscript>A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds,Convection and Circulation

Trade-wind cumuli constitute the cloud type with the highest frequency of occurrence on Earth, and it has been shown that their sensitivity to changing environmental conditions will critically influence the magnitude and pace of future global warming. Research over the last decade has pointed out the importance of the interplay between clouds, convection and circulation in controling this sensitivity. Numerical models represent this interplay in diverse ways, which translates into different responses of trade-cumuli to climate perturbations. Climate models predict that the area covered by shallow cumuli at cloud base is very sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, while process models suggest the opposite. To understand and resolve this contradiction, we propose to organize a field campaign aimed at quantifying the physical properties of trade-cumuli (e.g., cloud fraction and water content) as a function of the large-scale environment. Beyond a better understanding of clouds-circulation coupling processes, the campaign will provide a reference data set that may be used as a benchmark for advancing the modelling and the satellite remote sensing of clouds and circulation. It will also be an opportunity for complementary investigations such as evaluating model convective parameterizations or studying the role of ocean mesoscale eddies in air–sea interactions and convective organization.     

Molecular simulation of the diffusion of uranyl carbonate species in aqueous solution

Potential-based molecular dynamics simulations of aqueous uranyl carbonate species (M_xUO₂(CO₃)_y^2+2x−2y with M = Mg, Ca, or Sr) were carried out to gain molecular-level insight into the hydration properties of these species. The simulation results were used to estimate the self-diffusion coefficients of these uranyl carbonate species, which often dominate uranyl speciation in groundwater systems. The diffusion coefficients obtained for the monoatomic alkaline-earth cations and polyatomic ions (uranyl, carbonate, and uranyl tri-carbonate) were compared with those calculated from the Stokes-Einstein (SE) equation and its variant formulation by Impey et al. (1983). Our results show that the equation of Impey et al. (1983), originally formulated for monovalent monoatomic ions, can be extended to divalent monoatomic ions, with some success in reproducing the absolute values and the overall trend determined from the molecular dynamics simulations, but not to polyatomic ions, for which the hydration shell is not spherically symmetrical. Despite the quantitative failure of both SE formulations, a plot of the diffusion coefficients of the uranyl carbonate complexes as a function of the inverse of the equivalent spherical radius showed that a general linear dependence is observed for these complexes as expected from the SE equation. The nature of the alkaline-earth cation in the uranyl carbonate complexes was not found to have a significant effect on the ion’s diffusion coefficient, which suggests that the use of a single diffusion coefficient for different alkaline-earth uranyl carbonate complexes in microscopic diffusion models is appropriate.The potential model reproduced well published quantum mechanical and experimental data of and of the individual constituent ions, and therefore is expected to offer reliable predictions of the structure of magnesium and strontium uranyl carbonate aqueous species, for which there is no structural data available to date. In addition, the interatomic distances reported for could help with the refinement of the interpretation of EXAFS data of these species, which is made difficult by the similar uranium-distant carbonate oxygen and uranium-calcium distances.An analysis of the dynamics of water exchange around the alkaline-earth cations revealed that the presence of the uranyl tri-carbonate molecule has a strong influence on the geometry of the cation’s first hydration shell, which, in turn, can considerably affect the water exchange kinetics depending on whether the imposed geometry matches that around the isolated alkaline-earth cation. This result shows that the alkaline-earth uranyl carbonate complexes have distinct water exchange dynamics, which may lead to different reactivities. Finally, significant changes in water residence time were also predicted when replacing carbonate for water ligands in the uranyl coordination shell.     

Maximum likelihood classification for facies inference from reservoir attributes

A cluster analysis methodology is developed to recover facies realizations from observed reservoir attributes. A maximum likelihood estimator allows us for identifying the most probable underlying facies using a spatial clustering algorithm. In seismic characterization, this algorithm can yield relevant geological models for subsequent history-matching studies. In history-matching procedures, it provides informative facies maps as well as starting points for further studies.     

A Large-Scale Palaeozoic Dextral Ductile Strike-Slip Zone:the Aqqikkudug-Weiya Zone along the Northern Margin of the Central Tianshan Belt,Xinjiang,NW China

The nearly E-W-trending Aqqikkudug-Weiya zone, more than 1000 km long and about 30 km wide, is an important segment in the Central Asian tectonic framework. It is distributed along the northern margin of the Central Tianshan belt in Xinjiang, NW China and is composed of mylonitized Early Palaeozoic greywacke, volcanic rocks, ophiolitic blocks as a mélange complex, HP/LT-type bleuschist blocks and mylonitized Neoproterozoic schist, gneiss and orthogneiss. Nearly vertical mylonitic foliation and sub-horizontal stretching lineation define its strike-slip feature; various kinematic indicators, such as asymmetric folds, non-coaxial asymmetric macro- to micro-structures and C-axis fabrics of quartz grains of mylonites, suggest that it is a dextral strike-slip ductile shear zone oriented in a nearly E-W direction characterized by "flower" strusture with thrusting or extruding across the zone toward the two sides and upright folds with gently plunging hinges. The Aqqikkudug-Weiya zone experienced at least two stages of ductile shear tectonic evolution: Early Palaeozoic north vergent thrusting ductile shear and Late Carboniferous-Early Permian strike-slip deformation. The strike-slip ductile shear likely took place during Late Palaeozoic time, dated at 269(5 Ma by the40Ar/39Ar analysis on neo-muscovites. The strike-slip deformation was followed by the Hercynian violent S-type granitic magmatism. Geodynamical analysis suggests that the large-scale dextral strike-slip ductile shearing is likely the result of intracontinental adjustment deformation after the collision of the Siberian continental plate towards the northern margin of the Tarim continental plate during the Late Carboniferous. The Himalayan tectonism locally deformed the zone, marked by final uplift, brittle layer-slip and step-type thrust faults, transcurrent faults and E-W-elongated Mesozoic-Cenozoic basins.